Julie Andrews was born Julia Elizabeth Wells on 1 October 1935 in Walton-on-Thames,Surrey, England. Her mother, Barbara Wells (née Morris), was married to Julie’s father Edward C. “Ted” Wells, a teacher of metal and woodworking. [3][4]

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With the outbreak of World War II, Barbara and Ted Wells went their separate ways. Ted Wells assisted with evacuating children to Surrey during the Blitz, while Barbara joined Ted Andrews in entertaining the troops through the good offices of the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). Barbara and Ted Wells were soon divorced. They both remarried: Barbara to Ted Andrews, in 1939; and Ted Wells, to a former hairstylist working a lathe at a war factory that employed them both in Hinchley Wood, Surrey.[4][5]

Julia Wells lived briefly with Ted Wells and her brother John in Surrey. In about 1940, Ted Wells sent Julia to live with her mother and stepfather, who, the elder Wells thought, would be better able to provide for his talented daughter’s artistic training. According to her 2008 autobiography Home, while Julia had been used to calling Ted Andrews “Uncle Ted”, her mother suggested it would be more appropriate to refer to her stepfather as “Pop”, while her father remained “Dad” or “Daddy” to her. Julia disliked this change.

The Andrews family was “very poor and we lived in a bad slum area of London,” Andrews recalled, adding, “That was a very black period in my life.” In addition, according to Andrews’s 2008 memoir, her stepfather was an alcoholic. Ted Andrews twice, while drunk, tried to get into bed with his stepdaughter, resulting in Andrews putting a lock on her door.[6] But, as the stage career of Ted and Barbara Andrews improved, they were able to afford to move to better surroundings, first to Beckenham and then, as the war ended, back to the Andrews’s home town of Walton-on-Thames. The Andrews family took up residence at The Old Meurse, a house where Andrews’s maternal grandmother happened to have served as a maid.[5]

“A Spoon Full Of Sugar”

Julie Andrews’ stepfather sponsored lessons for her, first at the Cone-Ripman School, an independent arts educational school in London, then with the famous concert soprano and voice instructor Lilian Stiles-Allen. “She had an enormous influence on me”, Andrews said of Stiles-Allen, adding, “She was my third mother – I’ve got more mothers and fathers than anyone in the world.” In her 2008 autobiography Home, Andrews denies having perfect pitch.[4][7] After Cone-Ripman School, Andrews continued her academic education at the nearby Woodbrook School, a local state school in Beckenham.

“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”

Julie Andrews performed spontaneously and unbilled on stage with her parents for about two years beginning in 1945. “Then came the day when I was told I must go to bed in the afternoon because I was going to be allowed to sing with Mummy and Pop in the evening,” Andrews explained. She would stand on a beer crate to reach the microphone and sing, sometimes a solo or as a duet with her stepfather, while her mother played piano. “It must have been ghastly, but it seemed to go down all right.”[8][9]

Julie Andrews got her big break when her stepfather introduced her to Val Parnell, whose Moss Empires controlled prominent venues in London. Andrews made her professional solo debut at the London Hippodrome singing the difficult aria “Je Suis Titania” from Mignon as part of a musical revue called “Starlight Roof” on 22 October 1947. She played the Hippodrome for one year.[4][10] Andrews recalled “Starlight Roof” saying, “There was this wonderful American entertainer and comedian, Wally Boag, who made balloon animals. He would say, ‘Is there any little girl or boy in the audience who would like one of these?’ And I would rush up onstage and say, ‘I’d like one, please.’ And then he would chat to me and I’d tell him I sang… I was fortunate in that I absolutely stopped the show cold. I mean, the audience went crazy.”[11]

Julie Andrews followed her parents into radio and television.[14] She reportedly made her television debut on the BBC program RadiOlympia Showtime on 8 October 1949.[15] She garnered considerable fame throughout the United Kingdom for her work on the BBC radio comedy show Educating Archie; she was a cast member from 1950 to 1952.[13]

In 1950 at the age of 14, Andrews was asked to sing at a party of a family friend, Katherine Norwalk, and it was then that she learned that Ted Wells was not her biological father.[16][4]

On 30 September 1954 on the eve of her 19th birthday, Julie Andrews made her Broadway debut portraying “Polly Browne” in the already highly successful London musical The Boy Friend.[2] To the critics, Andrews was the stand-out performer in the show.[17] Near the end of her Boy Friend contract, Andrews was asked to audition for My Fair Lady on Broadway and got the part.[18] In November 1955 Andrews was signed to appear with Bing Crosby in what is regarded as the first made-for-television movie, High Tor.[19]

Miss Andrews married set designerTony Walton on 10 May 1959 in Weybridge, Surrey. They had first met in 1948 when Andrews was appearing at the London Casino in the show Humpty Dumpty. The couple filed for a divorce on November 14, 1967.[13][22]

In 1960 Lerner and Loewe again cast her in a period musical as Queen Guinevere in Camelot, with Richard Burton and newcomer Robert Goulet. However movie studio head Jack Warner decided Andrews lacked sufficient name recognition for her casting in the film version of My Fair Lady; Eliza was played by the established film actress Audrey Hepburn instead. As Warner later recalled, the decision was easy, “In my business I have to know who brings people and their money to a movie theatre box office. Audrey Hepburn had never made a financial flop.”[23]

“Wouldn’t It Be Loverly”

Andrews played the title role in Disney‘s Mary Poppins. Walt Disney had seen a performance of Camelot and thought Andrews would be perfect for the role of the British nanny who is “practically perfect in every way!” Andrews initially declined because of pregnancy, but Disney politely insisted, saying, “We’ll wait for you”.[24] Andrews and her husband headed back to the United Kingdom in September 1962 to await the birth of daughter Emma Katherine Walton, who was born in London two months later. The family returned to America in 1963 and Miss Andrews began the film.

After completing The Sound Of Music, Andrews appeared as a guest star on the NBC-TV variety series The Andy Williams Show, which gained her an Emmy nomination. She followed this television appearance with an Emmy Award-winning color special, The Julie Andrews Show, which featured Gene Kelly and The New Christy Minstrels as guests. It aired on NBC-TV in November 1965.

In the 70’s, Edwards and Andrews adopted two daughters: Amy in 1974 and Joanna in 1975. Mr Edwards had a daughter from a previous marriage, Jennifer, and a son Geoffrey who were 3 and 5 years older than Emma, Andrews’s first daughter.[citation needed]

Andrews continued working in television. In 1969 she shared the spotlight with singer Harry Belafonte for an NBC-TV special, An Evening with Julie Andrews and Harry Belafonte. In 1971 she appeared as a guest for the Grand Opening Special of Walt Disney World, and that same year she and Carol Burnett headlined a CBS special, Julie and Carol At Lincoln Center.

In 1972–73, Andrews starred in her own television variety series, The Julie Andrews Hour, on the ABC network. The show won seven Emmy Awards, but was cancelled after one season. Between 1973 and 1975, Andrews continued her association with ABC by headlining five variety specials for the network. She guest-starred on The Muppet Show in 1977 and appeared again with the Muppets on a CBS-TV special, Julie Andrews: One Step Into Spring, which aired in March, 1978.

In 1981 she appeared in Blake Edwards’s S.O.B. (1981) in which she played Sally Miles, a character who agrees to “show my boobies” in a scene in the film-within-a-film.

In December 1987 Andrews starred in an ABC Christmas special, Julie Andrews: The Sound Of Christmas, which went on to win five Emmy Awards. Two years later she was reunited for the third time with Carol Burnett for a variety special which aired on ABC in December, 1989.

In 1991 Andrews made her television dramatic debut in the ABC made-for-TV movie, Our Sons, co-starring Ann-Margret.

In the summer of 1992 Andrews starred in her first television sitcom, Julie, which aired on ABC and co-starred James Farentino. In December 1992 she hosted the NBC holiday special, Christmas In Washington.

“You and Me”

In 1993 she starred in a limited run at the Manhattan Theatre Club in the American premiere ofStephen Sondheim’s revue, Putting It Together. Between 1994 and 1995 Andrews recorded two solo albums – the first saluted the music of Richard Rodgers and the second paid tribute to the words of Alan Jay Lerner. In 1995 she starred in the stage musical version of Victor/Victoria. It was her first appearance in a Broadway show in 35 years. Opening on Broadway on 25 October 1995 at the Marquis Theatre, it later went on the road on a world tour. When she was the only Tony Award nominee for the production, she declined the nomination saying that she could not accept because she felt the entire production was snubbed.[30]

Miss Andrews was forced to quit the show towards the end of the Broadway run in 1997 when she developed vocal problems. She subsequently underwent surgery to remove non-cancerous nodules from her throat and was left unable to sing.[2] In 1999 she filed a malpractice suit against the doctors at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital, including Dr. Scott Kessler and Dr. Jeffrey Libin, who had operated on her throat. Originally, the doctors assured the singing legend that she should regain her voice within six weeks, but Andrews’s stepdaughter Jennifer Edwards said in 1999 “it’s been two years, and it [her singing voice] still hasn’t returned.”[31] The lawsuit was settled in September 2000.[32]

“The Shady Dame From Seville”

Later that year Andrews was reunited with James Garner for the CBS made-for-TV movie, One Special Night, which aired in November 1999.

In 2001 Andrews appeared in The Princess Diaries, her first Disney film since 1964’s Mary Poppins. She starred as Queen Clarisse Marie Renaldi and reprised the role in a sequel, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004). In The Princess Diaries 2, Andrews sang on film for the first time since having throat surgery. The song, “Your Crowning Glory”, was set in a limited range of an octave to accommodate her recovering voice.[33] The film’s music supervisor, Dawn Soler, recalled that Andrews, “nailed the song on the first take. I looked around and I saw grips with tears in their eyes.”[33]

Andrews continued her association with Disney when she appeared as the nanny in two 2003 made-for-television movies based on the Eloise books, a series of children’s books by Kay Thompson about a child who lives in the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Eloise at the Plaza premiered in April 2003, and Eloise at Christmastime was broadcast in November 2003. The same year she made her debut as a theatre director, directing a revival of The Boy Friend, the musical in which she made her 1954 Broadway debut, at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, New York. Her production, which featured costume and scenic design by her former husband Tony Walton, was remounted at the Goodspeed Opera House in 2005 and went on a national tour in 2006.

Sound of Music Medley 1965

From 2005 to 2006 Andrews served as the Official Ambassador for Disneyland‘s 18-month-long, 50th anniversary celebration, the “Happiest Homecoming on Earth“, travelling to promote the celebration, and recording narration and appearing at several events at the park.

In 2004 Andrews performed the voice of Queen Lillian in the animated blockbuster Shrek 2 (2004), reprising the role for its sequels, Shrek the Third (2007) and Shrek Forever After (2010). Later, in 2007, she narrated Enchanted, a live-action Disney musical comedy that both poked fun and paid homage to classic Disney films such as Mary Poppins.

In January 2007 Andrews was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Screen Actors Guild’s awards and stated that her goals included continuing to direct for the stage and possibly to produce her own Broadway musical.[29] She published Home: A Memoir of My Early Years, which she characterised as “part one” of her autobiography, on 1 April 2008.[34]Home chronicles her early years in UK’s music hall circuit and ends in 1962 with her winning the role of Mary Poppins. For a Walt Disney video release she again portrayed Mary Poppins and narrated the story of The Cat That Looked at a King in 2004.

In July through early August 2008, Andrews hosted Julie Andrews’ The Gift of Music, a short tour of the United States[35] where she sang various Rodgers and Hammerstein songs and symphonised her recently published book, Simeon’s Gift. These were her first public singing performances in a dozen years, due to her failed vocal cord surgery.[36]

On May 8, 2009, Andrews received the honorary George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Achievement in Music at the annual UCLA Spring Sing competition in Pauley Pavilion. Receiving the award she remarked, “Go Bruins. Beat SC … strike up the band to celebrate every one of those victories.”

On November 25, 2009, it was announced that “Andrews will be singing in a concert at The O2 Arena (London) on May 8, 2010. Accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and an ensemble of five performers, she will sing favourites from her stage and film career”.[37] However she appeared on British television on December 15, 2009, and said that rumours that she would be singing were not true. Instead, she said she will be doing a form of “speak singing“.

In January 2010, for the second consecutive time,[38] Andrews was the official USA presenter of the New Year’s Day Vienna concert.[39] Andrews also had a supporting role in the film Tooth Fairy, which opened to unfavourable reviews[40] although the box office receipts were successful.[41] On her promotion tour for the film she also spoke of Operation USA and the aid campaign to the Haiti disaster.[42]

On May 8, 2010, Andrews made her London comeback after a 21-year absence (her last performance there was a Christmas concert at the Royal Festival Hall in 1989). The evening, though well received by the 20,000 fans present, who gave her standing ovation after standing ovation,[43] did not convince the critics.[44]

On May 18, 2010, Andrews’ 23rd book (this one also written with her daughter Emma) was published. In June 2010 the book, entitled The Very Fairy Princess, reached number 1 on the New York Times Best Seller List for Children’s Books.[45]

On July 9, 2010, Despicable Me–an animated movie in which Andrews lent her voice to Marlena, the evil mother of the main character (Gru, voiced by Steve Carell)–opened to rave reviews[47] and strong box office.[48]

Julie Andrews is a singer and actress, best known for her family-friendly roles in the 1960s, as Mary Poppins, and as the wayward nun Maria in The Sound of Music. Despite doing raunchy comedies and even a topless scene in S.O.B., her image remains perpetually wholesome.

Andrews was born Julia Wells, but was quickly nicknamed Julie. Her mother, a piano teacher, took part-time work as accompanist for a radio singer, and eventually they became a performing duo. Julie Wells became Julie Andrews when her mother got a divorce and married the singer. She began her professional career as an addition to her mother and stepfather’s act when she was just ten years old. At 12, she first appeared on stage without her parents, in a local play.

As an adult, Andrews followed her stepfather as a radio singer, then starred in the original Broadway productions of The Boyfriend in 1954, My Fair Lady in 1956, and Camelot in 1960. All three plays were made into movies, none featuring Andrews. Moviemakers believed she had no “star power” beyond Broadway, and that she was not quite “Hollywood beautiful”. But her first film, Mary Poppins, changed that perception, winning Andrews the Oscar for Best Actress. In the 1960s, she also starred in The Sound of Music, in James A. Michener‘s huge Hawaii, and opposite Paul Newman in Alfred Hitchcock‘s Torn Curtain.

Andrews has been married to director Blake Edwards since 1969, and he has been involved in several of her big- and small-screen projects, including 10, S.O.B., Victor/Victoria, and a sitcom called Julie that was cancelled after six episodes in 1992.

Her singing voice, famous for its four-octave range, was damaged by a botched vocal chord surgery at New York’s Mount Sinai hospital in 1997. “I don’t think she’ll sing again”, Edwards has said. “It’s an absolute tragedy.” Andrews says she now has “a wonderful, deep, bass voice of about five notes and that’s about it.” A malpractice claim against the doctors was settled in 2000, under terms required to remain confidential.

Andrews has rebuilt her career with a variety of non-singing roles, and as a stage director. Most recently, she has appeared in The Princess Diaries and its sequel, and provided Queen Lillian’s voice for Shrek 2.

Under her legal name, Julie Edwards, she has also written children’s books, including The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles and Mandy.